observations from Eagles-Rams

[taz]

Hello 2017 all over again. The difference is this was a JV team going out to play what was supposed to be one of the two best teams in the conference. I will say this, the Rams are frauds. This was a complete team win

1. Foles good game not a great game. That interception he threw there was no excuse for it. A veteran QB in field goal range in a situation that could put away the game. Other wise he didn't throw any TD passes, missed Ertz on one early in the game. Still he did more than enough to win this game.

2. The offensive line played really well. No secret that WIZ was back in there and they took it to another level. Benching him is another in a long list of things that have boggled me mind this year. The one thing I have to say is this. STOP WITH THE DAMN PENALTIES. They kill drives, they kill getting TD's. Every single lineman had at least one penalty against them. Still you can't take away that they opened holes and gave Foles more time than they gave Wentz this year.

3. The offensive line play really helped the Wide Outs, Jeffrey got the time to get open, Tate has a really good game. Foles put some dimes out there.

4. Wendell Smallwood had a really good game. I was screaming at the TV early in the game that Adams was too slow to the line and he was missing the holes. Enter Smallwood and all of a sudden those 2 yard runs became 6 yard runs. Have to give it to Duce for getting Smallwood in it.

5. I thought for the second straight week we got a poorly officiated game. The Rams were holding and holding majorly several times during the Rams last drive right in front of the offical, that gave Golf just enough time to get the ball off. I am sorry but the NFL has to fix this. Especially now that Sports betting is legal. I can see the lawsuits starting.

6. Dave Fipp has his special teams ready to play right now. Turnovers, Johnson is having a heckuva year punting the ball. Yes Elliot missed a 53 yarder but I don't fault kickers for missing over 50 yards.

7. Jim Schwartz has been the target of my Ire all year. Last night was the best game he has coached in two years. He dialed up the blitz when needed, he kept playing quarters as the Rams showed they couldn't beat it. My only gripe is its due or die time, stop rotating in Hall (who you just picked up off the streets) the starting lineman need to play more going down the stretch.

8. Hats off the cornerbacks, in particular, Avonte Maddox. He really played a great game. Douglas played well and so did LeBlanc.

9. Congrats to Zach Ertz for going over a 100 catches. Need to hang onto that TD early in the game though.

Overall we have life, coming home to play the Texans. Win out and let the chips fall as they may.

[andrewaters]

Taz

The officiating was typical. The biggest calls of the night went our way though. Truthfully being able to run the clock down to 2 minute warning at the end of the game will get overlooked but the officials and clock guys didn’t sync that up right. Shocked that didn’t get mentioned by Michaels (who I think is a pro) and protested by McVay. The Maddox INT and the fake punt were big calls that went our way too.

You can run it on Rams. They are a finesse defense. They start Mark Barron at LB. they are undersized and not great tacklers all over the field. Think about it... when they stopped us it was because we called a predictable play and they guessed right. When they guessed wrong we made 8-15 yards. We can beat them again.

I think the Vikings win out. That Bears-Vikings game isnt gonna mean anything to Bears. The game the Vikes have to lose is next week at Lions. I think the Panthers are going to lose. We can take care of the Skins ourselves. There is a small chance the Seahawks lose out at home against Chefs and Cardinals. Very small chance. The Cowboys might also lose at home to Bucs and then at Giants but I doubt it.

If somehow we make it I will say we can beat anybody in the nfc including the Bears in their gym. We can’t win in New Orleans though. I just don’t see how. In fact, short of Brees getting injured the Saints are going to Super Bowl. I’d love to go 9-7 and get in as wildcard. Beat the Cowgirls. That would be quite an achievement.

One last comment. The amount of experience this team is getting is amazing. It’s gonna serve us well for Maddox,Douglass, Kamu, Gerry, and Goedert to be playing like this. And Jenkins looks like a23 year old. Kelce looks like he has 3 more years in him. It’s funny what happens from week to week.

We think Nick is gonna get some interest but honestly maybe not. The Giants, Jags, Bucs, Bengals and Broncos all need a QB but there are a lot of young QBs in this year’s draft. My wildcard would be Brady retires and Nick goes to New England. He won’t be an Eagle next year unless he just wants to stay and will hold a clipboard for $8 million. The front office can’t keep him at this point IMO. If Carson struggles next year andNick is there you could get a divided locker room.

[musicman]

I watched the first 2 rounds of games on Redzone and just about every team that got to the redzone had to overcome the striped jerseys to score. I swear the NFL is running this shit like the WWE and the guys in the stripes are the villains. These guys should have ZERO to do with the outcome of the game, but teams get to first and goal and suddenly it's first and goal from the 35 and the fans are just waiting to see what happens next.

[Vet Turf]

IMO Foles was ok. Something he did that was different from Carson was that he was willing to air it out in the middle of the field. Now, to be honest, that heave to Aggie/Alshon could have easily been an interception. We were lucky that Alshon played like a beast last night and decided he was catching that ball and no one else was. The other heave to Aggie, I don't even think Aggie tried to catch it versus bat it down like a defender. Foles is no threat to run. Carson just needs to get healthy and get the confidence back to throw deep and this team will make a good run next year.

That overturned TD that the rams scored two plays later on, the Rams were very fortunate. They would have lost 15 seconds getting up to the line if the play was called dead at the 1/2 yard line. Instead after replay, they place the ball and the rams snapped it immediately. I have to hand it to the rams, they do that very well. Good coaching.

[musicman]

#1 Doug should have punted ,not attempt a 54 yd FG
#2 Foles with zero mobility gets better effort from the line. Wentz has mobility and the line IMO figures he can escape.
#3 Foles takes chances and gives his receivers the chance to make plays
#4 The line was pretty darn good last night.
#5 IMO they HAVE coached up their JV DBs, given some time , they are getting better within the scheme, BUT are still limited by ability.
#6 Was it just me or did Littledick look light on his feet ? We need to run Adams straight ahead. IMO as a long strider he isn't able to stick his foot in the dirt when running wide.
#7 Doug was back in the zone, more than at any other time this season.
#8 Doug called a time out at a crucial point. His defense was sucking wind and needed it. The front 7 played a pretty good game. Was glad to see them get the new guy in at DE. As a 3rd round pick he may have something, let's see if he does.
#9 Hill, Jenkins, Bradham and Cox played like madmen. I think Jenkins made most of the STs tackles as well as being crazed on D.
Douglas needs more time on the field going forward.

[taz]

MusicMan good point on the Timeout. I said to my son that was a good timeout as the defense needed a breath.

[Pliny]

Just throwing something out there about Nick vs Wentz.

Wentz has talent, brains and a great command of the offense. There is one strength about Nick though that could be a problem for Carson in the near future.

Nick plays with no expectations on him. So, he plays loose. Nick rarely makes a horrible throw when a receiver is wide open on the shorter routes and he doesn't seem to rush things.

I think Carson now feels that he should carry this team to a SB, especially because Nick did it. At times this year, it really looked like Wentz was pressing. This is especially true when a receiver is wide open in the flat and Wentz completely misses him.

When Carson gets back in there, he needs to calm down IMO. That is one area where he could take some advice from Nick right now.

It's a shame we could not have pulled out that game in Dallas last week. If we would have won that game, we would be 1 game up on them and the NFC East would have been ours by simply beating the Skins in the last week.

[Eagle60]

Just throwing something out there about Nick vs Wentz.

Wentz has talent, brains and a great command of the offense. There is one strength about Nick though that could be a problem for Carson in the near future.

Nick plays with no expectations on him. So, he plays loose. Nick rarely makes a horrible throw when a receiver is wide open on the shorter routes and he doesn't seem to rush things.

I think Carson now feels that he should carry this team to a SB, especially because Nick did it. At times this year, it really looked like Wentz was pressing. This is especially true when a receiver is wide open in the flat and Wentz completely misses him.

When Carson gets back in there, he needs to calm down IMO. That is one area where he could take some advice from Nick right now.

It's a shame we could not have pulled out that game in Dallas last week. If we would have won that game, we would be 1 game up on them and the NFC East would have been ours by simply beating the Skins in the last week.

Three fucking Eagles lying on a football without a Cowboy in the picture but no clear recovery!!!!

[NoDakIggle]

Have said that I think Wentz presses and tries to carry the team or thinks he has to. Nick is much more relaxed. Also Nick got far better OLine play than Carson has. I have always liked Nick (and hated Chip for dealing him) but Wentz is the future. He can relax and be great but I think a lot of that will depend on the QB coach and OC working with him to relax and play football.
Agree with you mm that punt was the right call not FG try. That and his 4th down 'run right into the gut of a bunched up defense' were bad calls by Doug.
The DL, Jenkins also, was on fire; Maddox though played a great game.
Team still has issues. Every team gets a good game here or there. Gotta hope Lurie on down knows they still need close scrutiny this off season.

[Pliny]

Three fucking Eagles lying on a football without a Cowboy in the picture but no clear recovery!!!!

I know brother. So many key plays in that game that would swung it the other way.

[NoDakIggle]

The thing that pisses me off about that is I have not heard one word from the league about how completely wrong that call was. There are always calls that might be considered bad calls but this was a completely blown call. It is like not knowing the rule book and making a wrong call. You would think the league would come out with some statement about firing that ref

[Eagle60]

I saw a lot of this game the same way as above and mentioned it in the game thread. Wiz kicked ass and Kelce was exclusively on Donald almost on every play helping out (it hurt us a couple of times on blitzes though but the Birds weren't going to let him beat us). The Rams should have done that to Cox too because he was a wrecking ball yesterday. The Eagles finally rotated him out and he was fresh every time that he was on the field.

The DBs played a nice game but I think most of it was due to the fantastic pressure that the D line put on Goff. Bennett was a BEAST yesterday!

The time out by Doug was HUGE with 9 minutes to go when the Rams were getting cranked up. Basketball coaches use it all the time to regroup and I'm surprised that NFL coaches don't use the technique more too. How many times do you see teams actually screw themselves on the goal line calling time out on 3rd down killing their own momentum trying to dial up the perfect play?

Schwartz went back to the old high school 44 defense witth 4 lbs and it was effective. Jenkins is so critical to the defense and I thought that Hill had a strong game too off the top of my head. I don't know why he called off the dogs in the 4th quarter though and let the Rams back in it. He had Goff scared to death for the first 3 quarters. The Rams showed how dangerous they really are at the end of the game.

Probably the most determining factor was that we finally won the turnover battle 3-1. We've been horrible there this year.


Doug should have punted period. I think that he wanted to show confidence in Jake but that almost cost us the game.

We need a friekin HORSE in the backfield and hope the hell we find one in the draft next year!!

[RobLew65]

My take:
1. Bennett deserves an extension probably more than Graham at this point He has been playing lights out
2. Cox destroyed interior of Rams O-Line. Rams may be too finesse to win NFC.
3. Foles. I mean what can you say? The guy finds a way. Popper remember Billy Kilmer? Foles is a better version IMHO
4. Running the ball and a commitment to it will always win games for this team
5. Good to see you Alshon!
6. You too Golden
7 Sproles I think you might have one more year in you
8. Jenkins you are really moving up on my favorite Eagles list
9. Peters another false start that kills a TD drive and another injury at the end of the game. Time to go inside my friend.
10. Schwartz nice game plan. Guys played well.

[andrewaters]

If Jernigan could come back we might have a chance to make. Run. We need another body in the rotation.

[Eagle60]

My take:
1. Bennett deserves an extension probably more than Graham at this point He has been playing lights out
2. Cox destroyed interior of Rams O-Line. Rams may be too finesse to win NFC.
3. Foles. I mean what can you say? The guy finds a way. Popper remember Billy Kilmer? Foles is a better version IMHO
4. Running the ball and a commitment to it will always win games for this team
5. Good to see you Alshon!
6. You too Golden
7 Sproles I think you might have one more year in you
8. Jenkins you are really moving up on my favorite Eagles list
9. Peters another false start that kills a TD drive and another injury at the end of the game. Time to go inside my friend.
10. Schwartz nice game plan. Guys played well.

I used to love Billy Kilmer Rob. Heck he even got Sonny Jurgensen benched! QBs called their own games back then and George Allen loved the way Kilmer called games. He was one tough bastard too. I used to really like the Skins because the Eagles sucked and Washington could beat DALLAS!! Despite Nick's soft demeanor he's a tough son of a gun too.

I hope that you're right about Sproles. He's the best that we have but hasn't seen the field much since he came back.